Anna's Book, by Ruth Rendell

Read and reviewed in April, 2014. Released later

Boy, was I wrong! Not a gentle family memoir as it seemed in the beginning. As they say, the plot thickens, and how! First we learn that the protagonist, Ann's beloved Aunt Swannie had an identity crisis at the age of 58. Because of an anonymous poison pen note, she doubted that she was the birth daughter of her parents, Anna and Rasmus Westerby. Ann's research led to the accounts of a grisly murder in her grandparents' old neighborhood and the subsequent disappearance of the victim's child. Very well written, first as a diary, then as news articles from the time, there are many twists and turns, leading the reader one way, then another. Who were Swannie's real parents? Who killed Lizzie Roper? What happened to Lizzie's little daughter, Edith? Will the answers ever be discovered?